5 Simple Steps to Harness More Time

Time is a luxury!

Each of us only has 86400 seconds or 1440 minutes or 24 hours per day and they go by quickly, so you surely don’t want to waste any of them!

I have been alive for 58637778573 Seconds or 977296310 Minutes or 16288272 Hours, WOW! So when I think back, did I use my time the best way I could? Probably not, but I can start now. After all I probably still have 1,937,735,166 seconds left to live, I shouldn’t be wasting it.

By maximizing your efficiency, you can complete every item on your to-do list with time to spare!

Follow these suggestions to help you get more done in less time:

Organization

1. Organization. Organization is the key to successful time management. I “try” to always be organized so that any point I can quickly move from one task to another, without having to stop to “get the stuff.”

Before you start a task take a few moments to get everything arranged, whether small or large, and create a time-saving game plan. Lay out all of your supplies; know exactly where you’ll start and where you want to finish.

Checklist: Create a checklist and check it twice. When laying out your supplies, place them in the order that they’ll be used. In doing so, you’re able to shave a few seconds off of your project time whenever you reach for supplies.

Milestones: Even if you don’t have supplies, you can still benefit from a checklist. Create milestones. If you’re checking the milestones off as scheduled, you’ll know that you’re on the right track. If you’re checking them later than scheduled, it’s time to speed things up. I love being able to check things off, it helps me feel that I am successfully moving through all my tasks.

Single Focus

2. Chunking and Single Focus. If you have a time consuming task to take on, rather than dreading the hours of work that are ahead, chunks. Group all similar tasks together and then work within a specific time period. Working in spurts of 25 minutes, with a five-minute break in between, still allows you 50 minutes of work time without feeling worked to the bone.

It’s important to focus solely on the task at hand while working in spurts. If you take even a two-minute break, you’ve lost two minutes of work time and increased your break time by 20%.

Concentrate on the one task at hand. If you’re preparing for a presentation for work, the only things that you should be doing throughout your 25 minutes is writing or studying. No using the restroom, changing the song, no checking emails or twitter, or helping your co-worker – just writing.

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Energize

3. Energize. In order to be efficient, it’s necessary to start the day off on the right foot. First, get a good night’s rest and eat a healthy breakfast.

Wake up early: You’ll find that you’re more energized after breakfast at 7:00am rather than 11:00am. Plus, you’ll add extra hours to your day, which allows you to cross off tasks on your to-do list even sooner. Then, the rest of the day is yours!

Exercise: Just 15 minutes of physical activity in the morning, whether it is a walk around the block or a quick spin on your exercise bike will get the blood pumping to your brain and get your firing on all cylinders.

Distractions

4. Eliminate all distractions. Distractions are a part of life and everyone’s schedule is susceptible. Rather than trying to fight them off, eliminate them completely.

Offline tasks: Turn off the computer, place your cell phone on silent, and unplug the television and all other things that are known to be a distraction to you. In doing so, you’ll be less likely to channel surf, catch up on your Facebook friends, or chat away when your friend calls.

Online Tasks: If you need to get something done on the computer in a timely fashion, block the websites that are known distractions by using LeechBlock, a Firefox plugin. This plugin allows you to restrict your visitation to the websites of your choosing.

One of my favourite ways to eliminate distractions is to spend time each day in meditation. Mary Jaksch from GoodLifeZen.com has an awesome article on How to Meditate: 10 Important Tips.

Time Saving Systems

5. Invest in time-saving assets. The final, and possibly most important step, is to invest in items or services which permanently shave minutes off of your day. It may be more money upfront, but you can potentially shave hours of chores off of your to-do list each week.

Gadgets: Invest in an automatic floor cleaner to automatically clean the floors each week. Also, a lawn mowing service, purchasing a dishwasher, and opting for carpooling are additional strategies that can shave time off of your to-do list. I just bought a newer, more efficient dishwasher on the weekend, it makes me very happy, not to have to rinse or re-wash the dishes!

Delegate: Invest in a service to do the job for you, maybe it is a maid service to clean once a week or maybe it is a VA that monitors your emails and customer service requests. This allows you to focus on the aspect you are expert at and allows you to finish your tasks better and faster.

Just get Started

Honestly I believe that starting is 95% of the battle. Once you get organized and spend a chunk of focused time on your task, it has a habit of taking much less time than you thought it would. And I have ALWAYS found that it is much more enjoyable than you thought. How often have you procrastinated a task, just because you thought it was going to be hard or awful? me? lots!

Here is another little secret I bet that you didn’t know…. the more often you start tasks the easier it is and the faster you will become at completing them! How cool is that 🙂

What other tips or strategies do you to Get more done with Less time? Leave a comment below, we would love to hear about it.

About Lori Lynn Smith

Lori Lynn Smith is a passionate and an authentic teacher who shares her real life experiences about creating a more nurturing and fulfilling lifestyle.